Inside Dallas ISD

Fifth graders in Vimari Khiat’s class at Ronald E. McNair Elementary School couldn’t help talking over each other in their eagerness to share what they had just learned about Native American history.  And that excitement is just what Khiat was looking for when she designed the projects for her class to learn about and commemorate Native American History Month. “We usually celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and African American History Month, so why not Native American Heritage Month? As Hispanics we have a great amount of Native American in our DNA,” said Khiat, a bilingual teacher who is from Puerto Rico…

A mentor is someone who allows you to see potential and restore the hope inside yourself. That is what led Gerardo Gonzalez Gomez, an instructional specialist in the Dual Language Department, and Isaac Nkurunziza, once his student, to collaborate in an organization that is making an impact on many lives. Nkurunziza, who was in Gonzalez Gomez’s ESL class at Bryan Adams High School Leadership Academy, is studying to become a mechanical engineer, but he is not your typical college student. At 23-years-old, he launched the Dream Nziza Foundation, whose mission is dedicated to empower children living in rural areas of…

When Joshua Spindler teaches government class at Moisés E. Molina High School, he encourages students to get educated about current issues that will affect them in the future.  This is especially important in years like 2024 with national elections when they get to have a voice in how those issues are handled, he said. “When I tell them about some of the issues, they get depressed,” said Spindler, who has been a social studies teacher for the past 10 years. “I tell them, ‘look, you can’t solve a problem until you understand it completely.’” He also tells them that they…

Jamie Contreras is building on his family legacy – not just as principal at Gabe P. Allen New Tech Academy, but also in Oak Cliff and West Dallas. Every day he walks through the school, he sees a hallway or a room that was there when his father attended in the 1960s and knows he is in the right place. “When you look around, you can see where it has been updated, but you can also see what’s original to the school, and I can hear dad,” he said. “When I see the young boys here, I can see how…